Pocket lamp for oral use



Jan. 37, 1928 DR. A. NoRms POCKET LAMP FOR ORAL USE Filed Dec. 8. 1926 Patented Jan. 17, 1928.

UNITED STATES 1,656,754 PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT A. NORRIS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR F ONE-HALF T0 CANUTE L. BRU DEWOLD, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

POCKET LAMP FOR ORAL USE.

My invention relates to mirror attachments for flashlights, whereby the lamp of the flashlight may be employed effectively for lighting desired portions of an ob ect and whereby such lighted port1ons can easily be viewed in their mirrored reflections.

Dentists, throat specialists, oral speclalists and even general physicians are continually confronted with the problem of securing an adequate illuminatlon of mterior ortions of the mouth and of the throat w ile examining such portions with the aid of a mirror inserted in the mouth. If the needed light-is furnished by an ordinary lamp disl5 posed at a distance from the patient, the latter is usually obliged to open his mouth to [an abnormal and tiresome extent and oftenL'is also compelled to hold his head 1n an uncomfortable position.

To overcome this, a small lamp bulb at tached to the mirror is sometimes inserted in the patients mouth with the mirror. This has the serious objection that the lamp bulb cannot be kept out of contact with the usually restless tongue of the patient, so that saliva is deposited on this bulb, and when the deposited saliva is dried by the warmth of the lamp bulb, an undesirable odor is emitted. Hence the lamp bulb needs to be cleaned frequently and in any case should be sterilizedbefore it is again employed, which is not easily done without afiecting'the insulation of the wires leading to this bulb.

Besides, both the lamp bulb and the wires connected to it require considerable room,

thus limiting the extent to which the mirror ma be moved within the patients mouth and also interfering with the ready use of tools or instruments employed by the dentists or doctors.

My present invention aims to overcome all of the above recited objections by providing a battery, lamp bulb and mirror com bination which will afford the needed illumination and mirrored examination without requiring the lamp bulb to be inserted in the mouth of the patient. Moreover, it provides an arrangement for this purpose which will enable the user to vary the position of the,

' mirror eatly without shifting the position of the atter and lamp bulb, WhlCh will permit a ready detaching and replacing of the mirror. So also, my invention provides a flashlight and mirror combination adapted to have both the manipulating of a current controlling switch and the change in osition of the mirror effected by fingers o the single hand which supports the entire device.

Still further and also more detailed objects will appear from the following specification and from the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a flashlight embodying my invention, with dotted lines showing parts of a human mouth and parts of a hand holding the appliance in position for lyiewing the rear of the lower gums and teet i Fig. 2 is an enlarged central, vertical and longitudinal section through the same embodiment, with the rearward portions of the battery and casing cut away, and with dotted lines showingthe mirror swung considerably out of its normal position.

Fig.3 is a bottom view of the embodiment of Fig. 1. i

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view of another embodiment of my invention, namely one in which the mirror-supporting stem consists of a fiat and resilient strip.

Referring first to Figs. 1 and 2, these show my flashlight and mirror combination as including a dry battery 1 housed by a relatively flat casing 2 into which the battery is inserted from the rear end of the casing. A reflector 3 is mounted in the forward end of the casing and has a rearwardly directed tubular extension 4 which is threaded for holding the metal'shell 5 of a miniature lamp bulb 6, so that this lamp bulb will have its axial terminal 7 in engagement with one spring terminal 8 of the battery. The companion battery terminal 9 is disposed so that it can be engaged by a contact strip 10 which is fastened to a finger-piece 11 disposed at one edge of the casing, thereby permitting the lamp'bulb to be switched on or oil in the usual manner by'sliding the said finger-piece rearwardly or forwardly on the casing. I

To utilize light from the lamp bulb within the mouth of a patient, I provide a mirror 12 which has its general plane oblique, to the axis of the lamp bulb and which desirably presents a concave face toward this bulb. This mirror is carried by a supportwhich is detachably mounted on'the battery casing and which permits the mirror tobe shifted considerably in position with respect to the lamp bulb. For this purpose, Fig. 1 shows I m the mirror 12 as mounted in a metal backing 13 soldered to the bent forward end of a rigid stem 14: which has its rear end enlarged in diameter and socketed in the forward end of a spiral spring 15. The bore of the spring is preferably such that the spring will grip the enlarged rear end 14* of the stem, so as to hold the stem both against rotation and against accidental detaching although allowing the stem (with the mirror) to be detached by a spiral unscrewing movement of the stem. The rear end of the spring is secured to the front of the Casing, as for example by soldering it to the bottom of a recess 16 which formed in the casing front, and the enlargement on the stem has a peripheral bead 14 which limits the insertion of the rear stem end in the spring.

Thus constructed, the flashlight and mirror combination can readily be manipulated with one hand for viewing parts disposed in alldirections radial of the axis of the lamp bulb. For example, in using such an appliance for viewing mouth and teeth portions, the dentist can grasp the battery casing approximately as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, namely with his thumb resting on some portion of thestem and with his index finger disposed for moving the sliding finger-piece 11 to which the switching contact strip 10 is fastened, while his other three fingers grip the clamp casing to the palm of his hand. When held in this manner, the mirror and the forward part of the stem can be inserted in the patients mouth so as to dispose the mirror considerably inward of the gums and teeth of the patient while keepin the lamp bulb as well'as the casing and a1 except possibly the dentists thumb tip outside of the patients mouth, and by simply twisting his hand the dentist can rotate the entire appliance about the axis of the stem so that the mirror willreflect .gum and teeth portions below the stem and at either side of the latter. Moreover, by pressing his thumb against the stem to flex the spring, the dentist can shift the location of the mirror through a wide range of positions, one of which changed positions shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2, so that the-mirror will reflect correspondingly different lower gum and teethportions.

For upper'mouth portions, the same appliance can be manipulated with equal facility by inverting it in the hand, so that the thumb will en age the finger-piece while the tip of the fgirefinger bears upwardly against the stem to dispose this finger for moving the stem. Since the hand can easily be twisted to rotate the casing about 180 degrces, and since the axis of thecasing can also be shifted through a wide range while holding the mirror out of contact with the patients gums, tongue or'teeth, even an inexperienced user can use such an appliance for a quite extensive observation of interior mouth portions. 1

By keeping the lamp bulb outside the mouth and out of contact with-the tongue, lips or gums, I entirely avoid the depositing of any saliva on it. After use, the mirror can instantly be detached by merely withdrawing the stem from the spring which affords a resilient socket for it, after which both the mirror and the stem can be sterilized. For dentists use, I desirabl proportion the parts so that the center 0 the mirror will be about two and one-quarter or two and one-half inches forward of the lamp bulb, and also desirably employ a concave mirror so as to magnify the reflection observed in it, while for throat diagnosis 1 may use a considerably longer stem.

However, I do not wish to be limited to any particular dimensions or to the concaving of the mirror, since these as well as other details of the above described embodiment may be varied considerably without departing either from the spirit of my invention or from the appended claims. Nor do I wish to be limited to the use of my mirror at tachment in connection with a. flat casing,

although the latter readily lends itself to a convenient manipulating of the switch and shifting of the mirror position by different fingers of one hand.

So also, I do not wish to be limited to the use of a spring as a socket for a rigid stem since other arrangements can be employed both for the socketing and for aifording the desired changes in the position of the mirror. For example, Fig. 4 shows an embodiment of my invention in which a flat and resilient metal strip 17 is fastened at its forward end to a bracket 18 carried by a flat mirror 19. In this case, the rear end of the resilient strip 17 is secured to a plug 20 socketed in a tube 21 formed on the casing 1, and the plug has a lateral projection 22 fitting a slot in the tube 21 to prevent the stem from rotating. The strip 17 and the plug 20 secured to it from the stem member of this embodiment, while in Figs. 1 to 3 the stem member consists of the stem 14 and the spring 15 from which that stem is detachable.

With either of these embodiments, it will be obvious that no wires are introduced into the patients mouth, although the lamp bulb can be disposed sufficiently close to this mouth to give an eifective interior illumination. Owing to the oblique disposition of the mirror, this also reflects li ht from the lamp effectively, but without irecting rays back into the e es of the dentist or physician. In practice,I ave found it advantageous to dispose the general plane of the mirror at an angle of about 60 degrees to the axis of the lamp bulb (which axis is also that of the reflector behind the lamp bulb). I also de- (Ell neearsa sirably dispose the mirror so that it will be intersected by the axis of the reflector when the supporting stem for the mirror is in its normal position, thereby enablingmy appliance to be used for a wide range of ob servat-ions even without changing the posi tion of the stern, and likewise insuring the ett'ective reflection of the more concentrated portion of the light which is projected forwardly by the reflector,

For dentists use, it may supply duplicate stem-equipped reflectors with each appliance, so that a freshly sterilized one can be sub stituted and used while the previously used ones are being sterilized- This detach ability also permits the ready substitution oi. mirrors of different sizes according to the size and location oi the parts whichare to be examined, thus adapting my appliances for use in connection witha wide variety of internal diagnoses and operations. This range of adaptability, together with variations in the angle at which the mirror may be disposed, also make my appliance suitable for inspecting the interiors of containers or the like, or for examining normally concealed parts, such as inaccessible parts of radio receiving sets, hence 1 also do'not wish to be limited to the use of my invention. in con nection with the diagnosing and treating of human ailments,

l claim as my invention:

1. The combination with a flash lamp having its lamp bulb at the forward end of its casing, of a mirror, and a stern member eX tending forwardly from the flash lamp, the stern member including a rigid forward portion secured to the mirror and a rear resilient portion secured to the dash lamp, the resilient portion being constructed so as normally to hold the mirror at an oblique angle to the axis of the casing and so as to permit the forward portion of the stern member to be moved toward the said axis.

2. The combination with a flash lamp hav ing its lamp bulb at the forward end of its casing, of a spiral spring supported at its rear end by the casing and extending for wardly from the casing, a rigid stem supported by the forward end of the spring and extending forwardly from the spring, and a.

mirror fast upon the forward end of the stem and normally extending obliquely across the axis of the casing 3. The combination with a flash lamp having its lamp bulb at the forward end of its casing, of a spring detachably socketed in the casing at side of the axis of the casing and extending forwardly from the casing, a stem supported by the forward end of the spring and extending forwardly from the latter, and a mirror carried by the forward end ot' the stem, the spring being constructed and disposed for normally supporting the stern so that the mirror will extend obliquely across the said. axis.

l. The combination with a flash lamp having its lamp bulb at the forward end of its;

casing and having a socket formation at the forward end of the casing, of a spiral spring extending forwardly from the casing and parallel to the axis of the casing, the spring having its rear end snugly socheted' in the said socket formation; a rigid stein having its rear end tightly socketed in the bore of the forward end ot the spring, the said stein extending forwardly from the spring; and a mirror rigidly secured to the forward end of the stem and extending obliquely across the said axis when the spring is in its normal position; the spring having a freely flexible portion between the said socket formation and the rear end of the stem to permit a flexing of the spring by pressure on the stem toward the said axis, so as to permit the stem to be inclined to ward and across the said axis for varying the positionot the mirror with respect to the lamp,

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, November 

